Today was an important corner stone in my life. I have become a Canadian citizen. Here are some funny things I saw during the citizenship ceremony.
I was not excited, but somehow happy, because with a Canadian passport, I can travel to many places. It is one of the most useful passports in the world. Very importantly, I can access U.S. easily. I wouldn’t mind giving away my Chinese passport at all. What is the use of Chinese passport? It is something that I would give away without hesitation. A Chinese passport is a symbol of dictatorial politics. It means that I am the subject of the totalitarian Chinese rulers, and that I am at their mercy or at their disposal. Giving it away feels like being unshackled. I am now free. Years ago, when a friend told me that some Chinese felt pity and sad as if they were losing their Chinese identity that have accompanying them for a long time. For me, this is absurd thinking. Passport is just a piece of paper, it wouldn’t change any quality of the person it represents. I am by any means a Chinese. That the Chinese culture embodied is just the same no matter what nationality I have acquired. Chinese culture has no boundary of states.
Those who pity their Chinese passports seem like to fall into the abyss of irrational patriotism. If you think loving your Chinese passport is equivalent to loving your Chinese state, I would agree with you, but it is not the same as loving your culture or Chineseness. For me, I love Chinese culture than the state. I am by no means a nationalist.
The process is quite long. It started at 12:45PM. We were seated according to numbers written on the green paper sent to us. Then, people became to check in one by one. I was god damn hungry when I noticed how slow the whole things went. So I sneaked out of the room, out the building, across the street, waiting for the traffic light, and entered the Subway restaurant. I grasped a sandwich. I got a tea. I sat down and I ate until my stomach said “okay, let’s go back.” When I returned to the ceremony hall, people were still checking in. I did not miss anything important. I was happy about that.
I looked more happier than most people. I was talkative, taking pictures, chatting with people around me. Most people just sat there, hoping to go home early. Although I made fun of the process when we were waiting, I was quite serious about the ceremony. I sang the O’ Canada loudly. People around me were just murmuring that it seemed that I was singing solo.
The judge was an Indian immigrant back twenty years ago. He recounted his story from his first entry as a timid little Indian schoolboy to his success being an elected provincial member of the governing council. He mentioned how great country Canada was. He mentioned that the answer to the question “where are you from” was that I was from Missisagua, instead of I was from other country other than Canada. He was trying to convince the audience not to leave Canada after they got citizenship.
I listened to his speech attentively. However, most people were just impatient. The woman sitting next to me kept playing with her paper.
I had some people taking picture of me during the process. I thought this was a big moment in my life. I knew it was just a formality. But if we people were too cynical about everything, we would have lost the sacred.
When the host dismissed everyone, people just rushed to the door as if they had been waiting for so long to leave the room. I felt so uncomfortable about that. I would like to stand up and shake hands with people around me and said congratulations. However, these people were so rushed that they seemed very rude to me. They talked to each other as old friends when they were sitting close to each other waiting. When it was over, they would not say anything and just left. Finally, there was a fat woman sitting in front of me shaked hands with me, and a boy that sitting a few seats away from me.
What are these people thinking? Life had been hard to them. Immigrants were not easy…
Have any television journalists interviewed the ceremony? If they did, I would certainly say, it means a lot to me, being a Canadian citizen. I certainly love this country. If I were given a second chance to decide where to be born, it is going to be Canada. I really mean it.
LITTLE YOUTH